Who We Are Now
by Euitha
Summary: When Hermione awakes from a coma after the final battle for Hogwarts, everything is different. Who can she trust? And what has happened in the last 11 months?
1. Prologue

**Prologue **

Pain. A stinging pain and nothing else. Hermione's eyes filled with tears as Bellatrix knelt over her. "You are nothing." Bellatrix trilled in that singsong voice that would haunt Hermione's dreams for the next several years. "Nothing but a disgusting little mudblood." At that, Hermione felt the distinct feeling of her wrist snapping. Biting the inside of her lip until she tasted blood, she refused to let out the scream of pain building in her chest. She refused to give that horrible woman anything to further encourage her.

Her eyes moved away from the vulture above her and met Malfoy's.

Malfoy. The insufferable prat. He was just staring at her, face completely void of emotion. What a heartless, slimey -

Her thought was cut off by her arm being sliced into. It was more the surprise of the sudden pain that made her shriek out, rather than the pain itself. But that wouldn't matter much longer. Bellatrix was toying with her, you would have to be an idiot to not see it. And Hermione was no idiot. "Please..." Hermione began to whisper, looking at the deep "M" that had been inscribed into her arm.

The following minutes were nothing but pain to Hermione. She had often heard it said that in moments of extreme torture, a victim can escape into their own mind and feel no pain. This, she realized, was a complete lie. Every milimeter traced into her arm burned her. She could feel the tendons in her forearms grazing and ripping. The skin being peeled away. U... D... B... She couldn't remember what letter was coming next. Oh, right. An L. How many more letters in that word that set her apart from the others?

And suddenly, the incessant pain stopped and she heard a loud thud, as if a body had been dropped.

"Granger... Granger, open your eyes."

A male's voice echoed in the room. It sounded hesitant. Panicked.

"Granger, please."

Her eyes remained steadily shut. Was this some sort of sick game Bellatrix was playing?

"My god, Granger. I know you are awake."

This time, he sounded almost annoyed. She recognized the voice was... who? She couldn't remember.

A single finger touched her arm and her eyes opened in panic. Bellatrix was back to play. But no... A golden haired angel was holding her arm, tracing the letters carefully, as not to hurt her.

Then, it clicked who it was, and Hermione recoiled away. "Malfoy." She hissed maliciously.

He turned, kneeling and looking directly into her eyes. She was stunned by the gray storms captured into his deep eyes. "Granger." He replied, but there was no malice in his voice. He slipped an arm under her back and lifted her into a sitting position. At her feet lay a Stunned Bellatrix. Her eyes flashed around the room and quickly realized his parents and the two other men were Stunned lying about the room.

He grasped her arm and she looked back into his face. She couldn't quite read the expression hiding behind the blank expression he gave her. "I'm sorry." He whispered into her ear and lifted the knife Bellatrix had been clutching. Before she could react or pull away from him, he sliced his own palm. A flicker of pain twinged across his face as he clenched his wounded hand into a fist. Blood was pooling out quickly. He then rubbed his blood over her wounded arm, forcing his blood to mix with hers. "Get the others. Then leave." She stared at him, confused. "Malfoy blood can Apparate from the manor. No one will get here if you go quickly." He kept rubbing their blood together.

As quickly as it had happened, he stood, pulling her to her feet. "Stun me." He muttered to her. "Stun me, Obliverate this moment, and leave." He pressed his own wand into her hand and kissed her forehead, smoothing her sweaty hair from her face.

He backed away to the wall where his parents were lying and looked at her, almost pleadingly. "Hermione. Please."

It must have been her name that triggered her reaction, because later, she would have no memory of lifting his own wand and Stunning him. The next thing she knew, his body was lying there and she was fleeing to the dungeons. With a simple "Alohamora", she pushed her way in. "Grab me!" She screamed to the others remaining in the dungeon. Was that Luna? Before she had a chance to lock her eyes onto the girl's face, she pushed away from the ground, apparating to a field she had once been to as a child, and promptly collapsed to the ground, entering into a black void.


	2. The Final Battle And So It Begins

**Chapter One - The Final Battle (And So It Begins)**

_Oh God. This is how I die. I will be forever known as Harry Potter's friend who died. Will they even remember my name?_ Hermione almost laughed out loud at her own narcissistic thoughts. She glanced at Ron, who was huffing along beside her. You would think that after months of running about the country side would have whipped him in to shape. But it hadn't.

Not that Hermione minded, of course. Ron was, well, Ron. He could be lazy and dumb, but he was also a ridiculously talented kisser. That was something that had taken her much to long to learn about him. Was it only a few short minutes ago he had taken her to the basilisk? That he had kissed her and told he loved her? And now, oh the irony, she was going to die.

Sure, she could tell herself she was just being melodramatic. But the truth was, the coursing adrenaline through her body combined with the screams of pain around her and the castle collapsing as they ran... Well, it probably wasn't dramatic to say she wasn't going to survive.

"Reducto!" She slashed down her wand, causing the wall they were facing to crumble. _Get to the Room of Requirement. Help Harry. Kill Voldemort._ These three commands repeating in her mind kept her body moving at a steady pace. She shoved passed a group of students who were attempting to force a Death Eaters body off a staircase. Ron was following closely behind her, wand outstretched.

And then they arrived. The door was there, waiting for them. And Harry and a Horcrux would be there too. Suddenly, they heard a scream and Ron shoved the door open. Fire swirled around them and Hermione shrieked. "Harry?" The smoke was getting thick and she could barely see. She stumbled into the room, screaming his name. "Harry!"

"Hermione, don't!" Ron's voice called out to her, but she couldn't see him. Shit. This was bad. Too much smoke, and she'd be a goner. Suddenly, a hand pulled her by the back of her shirt into the air and lifted her through the door.

The door slammed, and Harry stood in front of it with a broom in his hand, panting. "Granger, you sure can be an idiot." The hand let go of her, and she fell to the floor. Looking up in surprise, she saw Malfoy glaring down at her.

"Get away from her, you prick!" Ron shoved at the blonde, eyes flashing dangerously.

Malfoy just rolled his eyes and stepped back, while Harry glanced at him apologetically. "Thanks Malfoy. This doesn't change anything, though."

Malfoy winked at the three of them and turned to walk away. "Wasn't counting on it, Potter."

The three exchanged looks and Harry shrugged as if to say, _once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater. _Out loud, though, he just motioned towards the now empty hallway. "Let's kill us a snake." They each drew their wands and dashed off towards the Great Hall.

They had almost made it to the splintered oak doors when they heard his scream. Bellatrix stood over Malfoy, wand outstretched. "You bastard!" She shrieked, and waved her wand at him again, forcing out another scream. "You betraying little bastard!" It didn't take more than a second for Hermione and Ron to realize that Malfoy had somehow betrayed Voldemort. A glance to Harry's face was all it took to see that Malfoy had helped him in the Room of Requirement. The tense look on his face showed Hermione that Harry would try to protect him.

"Harry..." She started softly, pulling at his arm. "Harry, the snake." He glanced at her and back to the body of Malfoy, who had curled into a ball and was writhing in pain.

"I can't just leave him."

Ron rolled his eyes. "This is no time for heroics. We need to move!" At that, he grasped Harry's arm and pulled him along with him towards the Great Hall.

Hermione, however, did not run with them. She took aim at Bellatrix and uttered a spell she had used to many times for a witch her age. "Expelliramus!" Bellatrix's wand pulled from her fingertips, but she held on. Her wand was now aimed at Hermione.

"Mudblood bitch." She hissed and slashed her arm down.

And after that, everything went black.

* * *

><p>Hey guys. Wow. Can I just say how surprised I was people seemed to enjoy this story from the prologue? Thank you for the support! And I hope you keep reading and that it keeps your interest. This chapter is a little bit different than the original. I am just trying to set up the story at this point. We will start getting into the real story next chapter. xoxo<p> 


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